Can Miles Bridges Elevate The Suns’ Offense?

Yes. He can. Next question.

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Oh, you’re still here? You want an explanation?

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I’ll start by saying we’re officially in the summer cycle of speculation. So I guess I have the time to give you one.

As we enter the void where there’s no basketball for the next two and a half months, all we can do is sit around, think through different scenarios, and debate why they will or won’t work. It’s very similar to what we did last offseason, when we tried to project what a team featuring both Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks would look like in the post-Kevin Durant era. 

Now we find ourselves asking whether acquiring Miles Bridges was the right basketball move to help elevate the Suns’ offense. After all, this was a team that finished 26th in points scored last season and 28th in field goal percentage. While I facetiously answered the question of whether Miles Bridges can elevate the offense by simply saying, “Yes,” the reality is far more layered than that.

There are two truths here. First, we won’t know the answer until we actually see it. Second, it won’t be a perfect fit, because there’s no such thing as a perfect fit. If you operate under that premise, there’s a flaw in the thinking. Perfection isn’t a destination you ever reach. Every roster construction comes with strengths and weaknesses, tradeoffs and compromises.

There are aspects of Miles Bridges’ game that will unquestionably make the Suns better. There are also areas where he falls short, and those deficiencies could create challenges for Phoenix. Overall, I believe his acquisition trends in a positive direction for the Suns’ offense.

To comprehend who Bridges is on the court, I think it’s important to start by looking backward before looking forward. We need to look at who he was in Charlotte and what his role was. We’ll dive into shooting percentages, eFG’s, shot profiles, and all of the numbers that help paint the picture, but those statistics don’t exist in a vacuum. They were shaped by the environment in which he played prior to landing at Sky Harbor. Understanding that context is essential if we’re going to fairly evaluate what Bridges might become with the Suns.

Bridges, the 12th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, has spent his entire career adapting to change. The team that drafted him featured Kemba Walker in his final season with the Hornets and Tony Parker in the final year of his career. The following offseason, Charlotte pivoted. Walker departed, the franchise shifted toward a younger core, and Devonte’ Graham and Terry Rozier became the primary offensive options. Bridges responded by starting 64 of his 65 games and averaging 13.0 points in his sophomore season.

The next year brought even more change. LaMelo Ball arrived as the No. 3 overall pick, Gordon Hayward signed in free agency, and P.J. Washington took over as the starting power forward, pushing Bridges into a reserve role. A season later, he was back in the starting lineup and leading the Hornets in scoring, averaging 20.2 points while starting all 80 games he played. Then came his self-induced interruption as Bridges missed the entire 2022–23 season following his domestic violence case. 

After returning, he averaged a career high 21.0 points per game, once again adjusting to a roster that had changed around him. That’s my point. There has been very little stability or continuity throughout Bridges’ NBA career.  The pieces around him have constantly shifted. Lottery pick after lottery pick arrived in Charlotte. His role changed from complementary starter to leading scorer, from sixth man back to featured option. Through all of it, he continued to produce.

He’s played for multiple head coaches on teams searching for an identity, yet he leaves Charlotte with career averages of 15.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.4 stocks while shooting 46% from the field, 34% from three, and 83% from the free throw line.

So that’s who Miles Bridges was. The question we’re really trying to answer is who he’s going to be. For the first time in his career, he’ll be playing alongside Devin Booker, Jalen Green, and Dillon Brooks in the starting lineup. He’s in a new city, with a new organization, surrounded by teammates who are coming off a playoff appearance, something Bridges never experienced during his seven seasons in Charlotte.

So what does that mean? It starts with understanding who he’s replacing.

The majority of the starts at that position last season belonged to Royce O’Neale, who shot an outstanding 40% from three across his 67 starts. But while O’Neale was efficient, he averaged 9.9 points on 8.2 field goal attempts per game (as a starter). He simply wasn’t asked to shoulder a significant offensive workload. Royce was the fourth option. He spaced the floor, lived in the corners, and served as the release valve whenever Devin Booker and Jalen Green bent the defense.

Miles Bridges won’t be that. He brings his own gravity. And that’s the first reason I believe he’ll positively impact the Suns’ offense.

Royce was one of the team’s most efficient three-point shooters, but he wasn’t one of its highest volume shooters. Among the 10 Suns players who started at least 10 games last season, O’Neale ranked seventh in field goal attempts per game. When you add in the fact that 82% of his attempts as a starter came from beyond the arc, it paints the picture of a very one-dimensional shot profile. It was an efficient role. It just wasn’t one that consistently stressed opposing defenses.

The second factor is Dillon Brooks. Brooks averaged 17.1 field goal attempts per game last season, and while that number was understandable given the circumstances, it was probably a little too high. That’s not a knock on Brooks. He spent a significant portion of the season playing without Devin Booker or Jalen Green in the lineup, forcing him to shoulder a larger offensive burden. With Miles Bridges now in the starting lineup, that shot profile should normalize. Prior to arriving in Phoenix, Brooks averaged 12.5 field goal attempts per game over seven seasons with the Grizzlies and Rockets. That’s much closer to the role he should occupy moving forward.

And that’s my first reason for believing Bridges will elevate the Suns’ offense. The shots he’ll absorb will come from two places: the 8.2 attempts Royce O’Neale leaves behind and the handful of attempts Brooks no longer has to force. Those are simply more dynamic offensive possessions than the Suns had available last season. 

If you combine the production of Brooks and O’Neale from last season, they posted an effective field goal percentage of 53.6%. Bridges owns a career effective field goal percentage of 53.0%. That’s essentially a wash. If we project Bridges to average roughly 14.2 field goal attempts per game, using his career shooting profile of 12.9 attempts and 5.2 three-point attempts per game, his career efficiency projects to approximately 15.1 points per game. That’s about five more points than Royce O’Neale provided as a starter last season.

Is this a simplified exercise? Absolutely. There are plenty of variables a calculator can’t account for. My goal isn’t to create a perfect projection. It’s to quantify the type of offensive impact Bridges could have within this roster. At the end of the day, if the question is whether Miles Bridges is a better overall offensive player than Royce O’Neale despite being a less accurate three-point shooter, I think the answer is clearly yes. He provides far more optionality.

That leads to the second reason I believe he’ll improve the Suns’ offense. Miles Bridges puts pressure on the rim.

Analytics will tell you that three is worth more than two over the course of a season, and they’re right. But basketball is still rooted in common sense. The closer you are to the basket, the easier it is to score. Bridges has built his career on understanding that. Since entering the NBA, nearly half of his shot attempts, 48.7%, have come at the rim, where he’s converted 59.4% of them. Compare that to Royce O’Neale, who took only 13% of his shots at the rim last season. That’s a massive difference in offensive profile.

That leads to the second reason I believe he’ll improve the Suns’ offense. Miles Bridges puts pressure on the rim. Analytics will tell you that three is worth more than two over the course of a season, and they’re right. But basketball is still rooted in common sense. The closer you are to the basket, the easier it is to score. Bridges has built his career on understanding that. Since entering the NBA, nearly half of his shot attempts, 48.7%, have come at the rim, where he’s converted 59.4% of them. Compare that to Royce O’Neale, who took only 13% of his shots at the rim last season. That’s a massive difference in offensive profile.

Bridges can create his own shot. He can put the ball on the floor, attack the paint, and finish through contact. Last season, the only Suns player who consistently created that kind of downhill pressure was Jalen Green, and he only appeared in 32 games.

Bridges isn’t a player who simply parks himself in the corner waiting for a kick out. He’s someone who forces defenses to react. Opponents still have to respect him as a three-point shooter, even as a career 34% shooter, but they also have to account for his ability to attack the basket, cut into the dunker spot, and beat defenders off the dribble. That changes how the entire defense rotates. When Royce O’Neale was spaced in the corner, one defender stayed attached to him, and the rest of the defense could remain focused elsewhere. If O’Neale had the ball, Booker’s defender could stay glued to Booker because help defense usually wasn’t necessary.

That’s not the case with Miles Bridges. When Bridges catches the ball on the perimeter, secondary defenders have decisions to make. Do they stay home on Booker? Or do they slide over to help against Bridges’ drive? Those split-second decisions matter. And when both Bridges and Jalen Green are capable of collapsing the defense off the dribble, it becomes much harder for opponents to load up on Devin Booker. The help has to come from somewhere, and every rotation creates another opening for one of the league’s best scorers.

I  understand this isn’t a perfect fit. The biggest concern is the three-point shooting. I like the optionality of adding someone who can space the floor while also putting pressure on the defense by attacking the rim, but it would certainly be easier if Bridges were a better three-point shooter. That’s one of the biggest perceived challenges facing the Suns this season. Four players on the roster attempted more than five three-pointers per game last year and shot below 35% from deep. There’s a legitimate reason for concern.

That said, I think there’s another side to the conversation. If this team truly commits to attacking the basket, if it climbs from 30th in the NBA in shot attempts within five feet of the rim, those paint touches should naturally create cleaner looks from beyond the arc. Whether the Suns convert those opportunities will ultimately determine how successful they are, but improved shot quality matters. And with lineup combinations featuring Collin Gillespie and Luke Kennard, the hope is that Phoenix can still be a respectable three-point shooting team.

Last season, the Suns finished fifth in the NBA in three-point attempts but only 12th in three-point percentage. I’d like to see more offensive balance. How many times did it feel like the offense settled for a contested three late in games when attacking the rim and forcing contact probably would have been the better decision? That’s where Bridges changes the equation. He may not be an elite three-point shooter, but he gives Phoenix another player capable of creating offense inside the arc instead of simply waiting beyond it.

The other area worth mentioning is rebounding. Bridges isn’t an elite rebounder, so this isn’t a major upgrade in that department. Last season, he posted a 10.6% total rebound percentage and a 3.6% offensive rebound percentage. Royce O’Neale finished at 9.3% and 2.9%, respectively. There is improvement there, but not enough to fundamentally change who the Suns are on the glass. That’s important because Phoenix’s starting lineup ranked 20th in total rebounds and 21st in rebound percentage last season. The one bright spot was offensive rebounding, where the starters ranked seventh in the NBA. So while Bridges should help in a variety of ways offensively, rebounding remains an area where the Suns still have room to grow.

As I see it, the addition of Miles Bridges brings far more complexity and optionality than the Suns had with Royce O’Neale in the starting lineup. Royce was a one-trick pony. He was damn good at that one trick, but he didn’t shoot with enough volume (nor was he asked to) to make a significant impact from the power forward position. His inability to put the ball on the floor and create offense ultimately limited parts of the Suns’ attack because opposing defenses didn’t have to account for him beyond the initial closeout. That’s where Bridges changes the equation.

Ultimately, Phoenix has to become a more efficient offensive team. That’s the needle they have to move. Ironically, it’s the same conversation I found myself having last season. How do the Suns become more efficient from their primary scorers? This time, however, the answer isn’t centered on the stars. It’s centered on the complementary pieces around them. The Suns are replacing a secondary offensive player with someone who may be slightly less efficient on a per-shot basis but projects to generate more points, create more scoring opportunities, and command far more defensive attention.

That’s why I believe Miles Bridges elevates Phoenix’s offense. He adds versatility. He adds pressure. Not necessarily at the point of attack, but in the split-second decisions secondary and tertiary defenders have to make. Do they help? Do they stay home? Do they rotate? Do they gamble? In the NBA, that’s all it takes. One hesitation. One late rotation. One defender making the wrong read for half a second. That’s enough for great offenses to capitalize, and I believe Bridges gives the Suns more opportunities to create those moments than they had a season ago.

There’s one thing you can’t quantify with effective field goal percentage, three-point attempt rate, or any advanced metric. It’s the way Miles Bridges plays. His grit. His tenacity. His motor. Brian Gregory spoke about those qualities during Bridges’ introductory press conference, and I think they align perfectly with what the Suns are trying to become.

This is a team that wants to hustle. A team that wants to apply pressure and dictate the pace rather than allowing opponents to do it to them. They want to be the fly in the ointment, the team you circle on the schedule because you know you’re going to be in for a physical, exhausting night.

That’s who Miles Bridges has been throughout his career. You may think he’s a little undersized. You may not love his three-point percentage. Those are fair criticisms. What you’ll grow to appreciate is the way he competes. He cares about how he plays the game. He plays hard every possession. He attacks with purpose, and his effort rarely fluctuates. Those are qualities that don’t show up in a box score, but they influence winning just the same. More importantly, they’re exactly the type of habits Phoenix is trying to instill throughout the organization.

Veteran players establish culture. Young players absorb it. If the Suns are serious about building an identity rooted in effort, physicality, and relentless energy, Bridges is the kind of player who reinforces those standards every time he steps on the floor. That’s why I believe he’ll elevate the Suns offensively. Not simply because of the shots he’ll make, but because of the pressure, movement, and controlled chaos he’ll create every possession he’s on the floor.

The fit won’t be flawless, and the shooting concerns are real. But Phoenix didn’t acquire Bridges to replicate what Royce O’Neale provided. They acquired him to expand what the offense can become. More rim pressure. More creation. More difficult decisions for opposing defenses. Bridges doesn’t solve every problem, but he changes the questions defenses have to answer. For a Suns offense searching for greater balance and efficiency, that represents meaningful progress.